Many communication systems include an automatic repeat request (ARQ) error controlling method to ensure data is successfully transmitted from one network node to another. For example, in a “stop and wait” ARQ, a transmitting node transmits a first data packet to a receiving node and then waits until it receives an acknowledgement (ACK) message from the receiving node identifying that the receiving node has successfully received the first data packet. The transmitting node sends a second data packet once it receives the ACK message from the receiving node. If the transmitting node does not receive an ACK message from the receiving node within a predetermined period of time, then the transmitting node will retransmit the first data packet to the receiving node and wait to receiving an ACK message. In some ARQ methods, a negative ACK (NACK or NAK) message is transmitted from the receiving node to the transmitting node if a data packet is not successfully received.
In coordinated networks, e.g., a communication network in which data transmission is scheduled by one of the network nodes referred to as a Network Coordinator (“NC”), the transmission of the ACK or NACK messages from the receiving node to the transmitting node are scheduled by the NC. Accordingly, although the ARQ methods improve the reliability of data transmission by notifying the transmitting node that a data packet has not been properly received, such methods also impose latency and jitter issues as well as sometimes requiring packet reordering. Additionally, ARQ methods require memory for storing packets in the transmitting nodes that may have to retransmit a packet in addition to requiring system bandwidth in order to retransmit the unsuccessfully received data packet.